A lot of portfolio companies owned by private equity firms are going to go bankrupt. It's going to take a couple of steps for people to see, oh, it was potentially because of the tactics that private equity firms executed on them or the debt that they loaded up these companies with. PE firms spent over a trillion dollars buying companies last year. The real danger isn't other risk of being repetitive from the private equity firm. It's from the companies that they buy.
If you want to maximize the value of your home for decades, you might update the kitchen. But if your time frame is one week, then you might burn down the house. Brendan Ballou is a federal prosecutor and special counsel at the Department of Justice, where he led the antitrust division’s work on private equity. He's also authored a new book, “Plunder, Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America.” Ricky Mulvey caught up with him to talk about: - The techniques many private equity companies use to generate short-term returns - A key misunderstanding about the fall of in-person retailers - Private equity’s impact on medical billing, bakeries, and insurance Companies discussed: CG, KKR, BX Host: Ricky Mulvey Guest: Brendan Ballou Engineer: Tim Sparks
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